RICHMOND, Va. — NASCAR defended its harsh penalties against Brad Keselowski and Matt Kenseth in the last two weeks, with Vice President of Competition Robin Pemberton saying Friday that NASCAR must enforce its rulebook even if it means being “as cold as you can be.”

Kenseth called the penalties against his Joe Gibbs Racing team “borderline shameful.” His No. 20 team was hit with 50-point penalties for the driver and team, a seven-week suspension and $200,000 fine for crew chief Jason Ratcliff and a loss of owner points for six weeks — all for one connecting rod that was 2.7 grams under the 525-gram minimum in his race-winning engine at Kansas last week.

“When you look at engine penalties, they’re severe for a reason,” Pemberton said during a news conference Friday at Richmond International Raceway. “We don’t take lightly somebody being out of bounds when it comes to an engine or an engine situation.

Kenseth said any unbiased person would know there was no competitive advantage to his engine at Kansas, where he beat Kasey Kahne by 0.150 seconds.

“I just think the penalty is way over the top for that,” Kenseth said. “It wasn't anything trying to gain an advantage. It wasn't an advantage and it was a mistake.

“I think that should have been taken into account. … To say you can't win an owner's championship with this car this year, I just think that for a guy (like Joe Gibbs) who has been the biggest supporter for the last 22 years, man, that's a tough one to figure out."

Pemberton pointed out that NASCAR’s message throughout its history has been for teams not to mess with tires, engines and fuel. He said that Kenseth’s violation was black and white and that select engines are inspected only after a race. NASCAR won’t try to determine how much of a performance advantage a team got from a violation, he said.

“There’s reasons there are rules,” Pemberton said. “There’s reasons there are defined numbers. We didn’t just dream numbers up. We work with teams, we work with manufacturers, we work with outside experts to get these parameters.

“They know (the rules). … I don’t want to be so cold about it, but that’s just the way it is. That’s why you have these parameters put into play.”

The JGR team is being penalized for an engine it got from Toyota Racing Development, which builds its engines and purchases connecting rods from a vendor.

Pemberton said NASCAR can’t try to distinguish between infractions committed by the team and by outside vendors.

“We'd be in it all day long, whether it was a shock that went bad, a spring that collapsed that caused the car (to be) low or any of those things,” Pemberton said. “You can concentrate right now (with Kenseth) on a certain area, because right now it's the height and awareness around an engine part.

“But when you go down that road, there are a million pieces on these cars, and so we choose to go down the path that it's the team's responsibility for quality control, and check on the parts and pieces that they bring and compete with at the racetrack.”

Pemberton said NASCAR would not penalize an outside vendor and that the crew chief and team owner are responsible for all parts and pieces on a car. He said as the sport has fewer engine builders and more teams relying on manufacturer-approved engine builders and vendors, NASCAR will evaluate whether it could penalize manufacturers. It did dock Toyota five points in the manufacturer standings as part of the penalties.

Ratcliff said NASCAR needs to look at ways to penalize vendors when they are at fault.

“I raised my hand as the crew chief on the 20 car and take responsibility,” Ratcliff said. “I know the rulebook and it’s my responsibility to make sure all the parts and pieces are correct.

“For Joe (in owners points), it’s totally uncalled for. … How do you hold (TRD) accountable? It’s time for some change on how NASCAR approaches it because times have changed so much.”

Brad Keselowski, who along with teammate Joey Logano received a 25-point penalty and seven-week suspensions to seven key Penske Racing personnel for an illegal rear suspension at Texas, said that NACAR is unfairly labeling teams as cheaters with such big penalties.

“(We need) something to control people from getting too far out but without sending this large message that I think we send when we have issues like this that make people kind of question the competitors and where they’re at,” said Keselowski, the defending Sprint Cup champion. “I know I personally don’t enjoy answering the questions from fans in the scenarios we’ve been presented over the last few weeks about, ‘Does this mean you’re a cheater?’

“I don’t think that’s fair because you look at the best players in the NBA, Michael Jordan committed fouls and you don’t see situations where the fans in the NBA look at him and call him a cheater. It’s just kind of part of the game. When you’re pushing to the limits, sometimes things just step over, whether it’s intentional or not.”

Pemberton said he understands such penalties can impact sponsorship as well as the perception of drivers and teams but it’s his job to enforce the rulebook and make sure there is an even playing field. Both JGR and Penske are appealing their penalties.

“I and our group are concerned about level playing field,” Pemberton said. “If you're worried about your sponsors and other things, then you have to do the right things by that. That's why we hand the rulebook out.

“It's our job, as cold as you can be, there is a rulebook — here you are. And we have to look at it that way, and as emotional as you want to get because we're all one group that travels around the country every day, they know ahead of time where they're supposed to be.”

Pemberton said there was no discussion about taking the Kansas win from Kenseth because NASCAR wants fans to know the winner when they leave the track.

“We feel like we’re consistent (with our penalties),” Pemberton said. “But not every violation is exactly the same. We do our best.

“We feel like we do a good job at interpreting those infractions and levying the penalties that they deserve.”